ITV lands rights to padel tournament, Hexagon Cup

The new padel tournament Hexagon Cup has secured free-to-air coverage on the UK pubcaster, ITV. 

The deal includes the livestream of the semi-finals and the finals on ITVX, with highlights shown on linear channel ITV4.

The Hexagon Cup kicks off in Madrid, Spain on January 31, with semi-finals on February 3 and the finals on February 4. It sees six teams divided into two qualifying groups and compete in a series of head-to-head matchups. Only the top two teams from each group will advance to the finals, where the inaugural Hexagon Cup champions will be crowned.

The rising sport competition has gained traction for its celebrity teams, including the the Rafa Nadal Academy powered by Richard Mille team, RL9 by the Barcelona FC footballer Robert Lewandowski, Team AD/vantage by tennis player Andy Murray, ElevenEleven Team USA, owned by US actress Eva Longoria, Team Bella Puerto Rico, owned by Puerto Rican businessmen María Esteve and Carlos López-Lay, and a fan-led Hexagon Cup team.

The partnership will mark the first broadcast of a live padel tournament on ITV, with Warner Bros. Discovery’s Eurosport also set to deliver coverage of the Hexagon Cup on the Eurosport App and discovery+ across 10 European markets.

Tim Godfrey, strategic advisor, Hexagon Cup, said: “This partnership with ITV marks a major win, not only for the Hexagon Cup which now has a leading, free-to-air home in the UK, but also for British padel fans who are picking up a passion for the playing the sport, and can now watch the best players in the world, live and free.”

ITV also recently announced it acquired the rights to darts events Bahrain World Series of Darts and Dutch Masters. The broadcaster’s portfolio of first-class sport events, also includes Six Nations rugby, the Men’s UEFA European Championship, England Men football international qualifiers, Nations League and friendly matches, England Women football matches, the FA Cup, EFL highlights including the Sky Bet Championship, Sky Bet League One, Sky Bet League Two, Carabao Cup and the EFL Trophy, La Liga, the Tour de France, the NFL, the Investec Champions Cup, Gallagher Premiership Rugby and, in motorsport, Extreme E, British Touring Car Championships and MotoGP, SailGP, with additional major competitions in snooker and darts.